No, YOU’RE brainwashed.

Clearly, there is reason for cautious optimism as Biden continues to lead us forward.  The contrast between his administration and the previous one is absolutely polar, as are the differences in personal character.

We went from having no plan, no leadership and no honest information,  to an administration with a clear plan, guided by science, common sense and morality.

Less than 3 months in, Biden is ahead of his promise of 100 million vaccines in 100 days. Numbers look like we will actually hit 200 million in that timeframe.  He and his covid team are providing regular press briefings. He has brought competing pharm companies together to collaborate on developing more vaccines. His guidelines and recommendations are based on science and logic, not fear and disinformation.

His first week in office he issued no fewer than 35 executive orders, many revoking Trump’s dick moves, executive orders and policies involving Issues of race and gender equality, environment, foreign trade & relations, voting rights, economics, immigration, etc.  Key policy changes that seek to “Restore the soul of the Nation”.

Biden is also mending relationships with our allies.  He’s returned the U.S. to various international treaties and organizations that address climate change, fair trade, human rights, clean energy development and global health, promising the world that “America is back”.

So why does it still stink all up in here?

Well, it’s complicated.

The stench is residual Trumpism. As long as Republican ass hats keep jerking off Donald and propagating his lies. his army of brainwashed bleach-drinkers may never return to reality.

Remember, these guys are really pissed off. The echo-chambers of disinformation that have shaped their reality are very scary places.  Their worst nightmares have been verified by their Facebook feed and to them, that is the only true reality. Their irrational fears and misguided hatred can easily find company and can easily be manipulated. Logic, morality, objective skepticism, even reality itself, have all been replaced by paranoid delusions of false threats and fake fear.

Pandering to the paranoid delusions of brainwashed, deplorable morons, has united and empowered the worst among us and has given them a disproportional voice.

Trump showed the Republicans that nonsense works as a political strategy, if the goal is only chaos, confusion and fear. He also showed them that there is little accountability or consequence for lies, no matter how blatant or bizarre.  Their intended effect is always immediate.  They will be spread throughout society like a virus, much faster than the rate at which they can be disproved. Accuracy is irrelevant to its impact.

Republican Governors, Senators and Congresspersons are showing that their loyalty is still with Trump, not with America.  They continue to perpetuate Trump’s lies and, in doing so, they are continuing their acts of sedition.  They hold the nozzle of this douchebag full of bullshit but the last thing they want is for Trumpists to wake from their nightmare and realize their fear was manufactured.  The first thing America needs is for this to happen.  The differences that divide our society are not really political, economical or racial, they are really only differences in perception.

Fear will always trump logic.  Think about how millions of Americans believed that facemasks were somehow a democratic strategy to take away Americans’ rights.  Trump made his followers fear the mask more than the virus itself.  Just like he made them fear Mexican invaders more than racist, murderous cops or domestic terrorists with assault rifles.

Covering your mouth and nose to prevent the spread of airborne pathogens is 19th century technology.  That’s what kept influenza, ebola, and smallpox from killing us all, decades ago.  Vaccines were ultimately created to address these diseases, as with covid, but face covering was the best first step that saved us then. Trump’s denial of this long-established scientific fact killed thousands, for the sake of his twisted ego.

In 1968, seatbelts became mandatory nationwide.  While some did object to having the sanctity of their front seat invaded by the feds, most understood the basic physics involved in preventing faces from going through windshields and clicking a seatbelt became common sense and second nature. Of course, that was long before Facebook was able to make the fearful abandon reason.

Trump politicized the facemask issue as a way to divide us against each other, during a time of crisis and to distract attention from the fact that he had no plan, other than to abandon us all to die.

Muslims, socialists, the free media, Mexican rapists, Hillary Clinton, gay soldiers, Jewish space lasers, Anderson Cooper, satanic vampires and lizard people who fuck children- – these are not America’s enemies. You can agree or disagree with any of these, believe or deny their existence but being told what to fear is the process of radicalization. Remember, the goal is not civil self-governance, the goal is chaos and distrust.

Donald Trump did not create all of these bizarre myths, most of the weirdest stuff is Russian influence operations or q-anon lunacy, maybe those are both the same thing, but no theory, however bizarre, no group, however hateful, delusional or glue-sniffing, no foreign leader, however dictatorial, no space laser, however Jewish, will be denied or turned away, provided they give praise unto he, who is The Donald.  If their bullshit serves to create distraction, fear and distrust, it serves Trump.

Trump is pathologically unable to refuse praise from anyone, or resist any offer to jerk off his ego. His need for this external affirmation far outweighs any sense of honor, loyalty or duty.  This narcissistic defect makes him quintessentially vulnerable to manipulation. Those who recognize and exploit this flaw are able to fold their agendas into his. When Trump refuses to denounce hatred and call these groups terrorists, he lends them legitimacy and empowerment. It’s all very transactional. In return, these groups and entities, foreign and domestic, join his battle against reality and perpetuate the fearmongering. Elected Republicans are among these. Their loyalty to their deposed king is a betrayal to their Country, their offices and the People they swore to serve and represent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forgiveness will come

12 days left. Trump will be gone, Joe will be in, and America can begin to heal.

I have asked God to help me with my anger.  I ask He grant me tolerance and forgiveness for the sake of my soul and the soul of our Nation.

When I watch the Trump mob storming the Capitol on CNN, it lights a fire in my belly.  During my privileged lifespan between the major wars, I have never before known such rage against any group of people, including the 9/11 attackers.

This raw, primal rage is a hardwired instinct to defend what I love. It is not political, it is not ideological, it is not spiritual, it is genetically instinctive.

It is the same fiery rage that called my father to war, to cross the world, to drop from the sky and cut the throat of those who sought to destroy his home.

It is the same fire in the bellies of those who stormed the Capitol.

As mistaken, deluded and betrayed as they are, they nevertheless see themselves as patriots fighting a threat to their homeland.  Their patriotism has been subverted and abused. The threat they fight is a lie. The goal they seek is impossible.  The fear and hatred that shapes their lives is a manufactured set of falsehoods intended to motivate them beyond reason, beyond morality, into madness.

I do not share my father’s bravery. I have known no man who has.  He did not share my tolerance, my politics or my attraction to black chicks.  He would not understand the Capitol attackers’ perverted sense of patriotism or how their belly fire is the same he felt in 1941.  He was not inclined to tolerate ignorance as an excuse for violence.  Had he paused to contemplate the lies that motivated his enemy in Bastogne, I wouldn’t be here.  At 19 he had been forged into a blunt instrument of war. Propaganda was not his department and he never even heard of Facebook.

If this Republic is to stand we have to come together on these things.  Both sides must realize the divisions between us are not real.

Fear, not reason, has motivated this insurrection. America has been grossly betrayed by the narcissistic ambitions of a con-man and his henchmen.

This division was by design, our salvation is in the knowledge that Trump’s enemies were never America’s enemies. The things he told his minions to fear were never real.  Muslims, Mexican invaders, socialists, BLM protesters, Hillary, ecomentalists, the free media, these are not enemies. They were never going to invade the suburbs, confiscate anyone’s guns or fuck anyone’s children.

Perhaps this will be good news to those now able to accept small doses of reality as Trump’s twitter feed is now cut off.  There is certainly enough real fear in the world, to put down the burden of the false ones should be a hell of a relief.  The trick is to know the difference.

The fire burning in every American’s belly today is the same fire, the same pain, the same scar. It is from a single evil threat in the final throws of defeat. Those who followed and those who resisted were equally betrayed. Let us move forward together by sharing our pain but not our fears.

These are my thoughts this day as I contemplate forgiveness and give thanks for the lessons of my father.

 

The Insurrection of 2021

On January 6 2021, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, organized and incited an act of deadly insurrection against the Legislative branch of our Republic.

His brainwashed mob of deplorable traitors stormed the Capitol and the ensuing violence resulted in five deaths. In their minds, they were patriots following orders.

These are the facts.  This truth will undoubtedly become twisted and obscured by the same mechanisms of disinformation that motivated the insurrection, but this shit happened.

So what now?  Insurrection is a felony offence, as is Seditious Conspiracy.  These definitions are included in the articles of impeachment currently being drafted in Congress.

Impeachment, though warranted, is largely symbolic at this point and has little chance with the current lack of courage in the Senate. There would also need to be an unprecedented level of expedition, since there is currently only 13 days till the bastard is gone anyhow, what is needed is immediate action.

The 25th amendment is a little quicker. more lenient and humane than how traitors are normally dispatched during wartime, but still requires courage that is sadly lacking.

Fallen dictators are often summarily executed by their subjects, others have been done in by members of their own circle, even family. none are offered the dignified exit that Trump refused to accept.  This chaos is his choice. If he thinks he can somehow have it both ways, he’s just wrong.

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have suspended Trump’s accounts and deleted some inflammatory posts for violations of their respective anti-hate policies, a little late IMHO.  This is not the first violence he has incited via these platforms.

This is exactly how this was destined to play out.  The delusional paranoia that Trump created amongst his minions had only one possible outcome.  The purpose of this manufactured reality has always been to divide and weaken our Democracy and create distrust in our institutions of government and justice.  His path of behavior during his entire term has warned us all of these possible scenarios wherein he refuses the reality of his defeat.  He has 12 days remaining and we have no reason to expect anything other than continued attacks on our Democracy.

His ambitions have never been motivated by a call to serve America, its people or the Constitution.

Every action of his presidency has created division, distrust and hatred. This has been his goal since day one and his biggest ally is the cowardice of his fellow republicans. This cowardice blocked his impeachment and failed to perform oversight as he continually disgraced our Constitution and our Rule of Law.

In concert, these traitors to our Union, have allowed their demagogue to divide our free society into separate factions, one of which operates under false belief and paranoid delusion.

Their embrace of nonsense has resulted in the violent insurgence we saw Wednesday, where Americans who live within echo-chambers of Trump’s disinformation are incited to abandon reason, morality and the rule of law.

Let’s face it, Trump has already resigned.  He hasn’t done a lick of the People’s business in months. He remains President in name only.  He has abandoned us to die and his efforts have been only self defensive. Upon realizing his defeat to be finally undeniable, he intends to take us all down with him. This is his pathology.

Let me be clear. This fire was lit long ago and it was lit on social media.  Trump’s early embrace of these platforms allowed him the ability to circumvent objective, legitimate media and give him a false pulpit of credibility, from which to decry reality and attack any critic.

This direct and immediate communication portal to his base gave him leverage to create an alternate set of ‘facts’.  False fears, imagined invaders, superfluous walls, very bad people, stolen votes, are all elements of the false reality he narrates via Twitter, Facebook, FOX and the Trump media machine.  Classic propagandist tactics evolved for the digital age.

No theory, however bizarre, no group, however hateful, dilutional or glue-sniffing, no foreign interest, however corrupt or totalitarian, will be rejected from this world, provided they give praise unto he, who is The Donald.  This is what unites and empowers the worst among us who live in fear and hatred.

Their racist, white-nationalist wet dream is over.  Thank God.

 

 

 

 

Division is perception, unity is reality.

Americans are divided.  Just about every individual in America believes that there are “others” in society whose beliefs, values and interpretation of reality are wrong compared to their own.

These divisions are not political, racial or economical, though they appear to be, they are really only divisions in perception.

People have been presented with multiple versions of  reality, each acting to discredit the other.  Unfortunately, millions of Americans have chosen the reality that matches their fear and prejudice, not the one that matches objective fact. This is the result of a calculated strategy to divide, radicalize and weaken our society by use of disinformation and fear.

Trump’s followers have unwittingly allowed their reality to be narrated by Trump through his masterful use of social media.   Their minds have been polluted and their souls corrupted as Trump has stoked their fear and identified their enemies with his daily dump of dangerous, inflammatory nonsense for more than four years. They see deep-state socialists and brown-skinned boogie men behind every dumpster, plotting to confiscate their guns, raise their taxes, open the borders to Mexican criminal invaders, turn their kids gay, close down the police, set fire to the suburbs, wage war on Whitey and attempt to erase their ‘culture and heritage’. These are the lies that motivate the wack jobs. This is the process of radicalization.

The real world is scary enough without all this bullshit. I try to imagine how paranoid and fearful my world would be if I believed just half of Trump’s lies. His alternate reality is a very scary place, filled with threats and enemies that, apparently, only Trump recognized.

My neighborhood is full of white, black and brown people, immigrants, gay couples, hippies, bikers, liberals, conservatives and gun nuts.  We had yard signs for Trump, Biden, Bernie, BLM and lots and lots of American flags. Trump would have me believe that two thirds of these neighbors are “America’s enemies”.  The thing I truly fear is that one third of them believe it.

 

 

 

 

America has Spoken. Deal with it, assholes.

What would Americans think of a country where its leader denied the lawful outcome of an election and refused to concede power to the lawfully elected successor.  Where legislators ignore election results and protect their candidate, denying the popular will of the people and the democratic process.  Where lies and false allegations create distrust and division.  Where the leader abdicates his duty, but not his seat at the throne.

A banana republic? A dictatorship? A third-world monarchy?  Donald Trump calls these countries shit-holes, but here we are.  In any of these places, Trump’s post-election attacks against the democratic process would be called a coup.

Let me be clear, D-bag is not doing this alone.  His false claim of a rigged election is being backed by cowards, liars and co-conspirators who have sold their souls, betrayed their oaths, and denied the will of the people they swore to serve.

They support Trump’s lie that mail-in voting was somehow flawed and allowed for illegal votes to be counted.  Millions of them.

Last election it was illegal aliens and dead people voting, this time he seeks to discredit the votes of Americans with the good sense to vote early or by mail.  See, the ‘good sense’ demographic is not his base.

Fuck these assholes.  The American people have spoken. Their decision was emphatic and undeniable. Nobody expected Donald to act Presidential, or even civil, and his disgraceful, pathetic tantrum is largely inconsequential to the actual process of transition.

The custom of an outgoing President to graciously concede and retain dignity, respect and gratitude, is not a luxury afforded to fallen dictators and deposed monarchs. Those guys end up with their heads off and their bowels out, or dead in a bunker.  In America, we hang their portrait in the West Wing and the Carnegie Deli names a sandwich after them.

If D-bag wants to go out like a dictator, that’s okay with me.  He was offered dignity, he has chosen embarrassment.

It’s not like his legacy will be regarded with fond, patriotic nostalgia.  There will be no sandwich, or Trump Presidential library.  More like a Mickey D’s wrapper and a big ol’ box of Russian porn.  Future historians will chronicle his legacy with a half-assed wall in the middle of the desert and a bunch of bankrupt casinos and golf courses. The Trump administration will go the way of Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump Steaks and about a dozen over-leveraged swindles, long cons and bad ideas. The TRUMP brand will become the punchline of about a billion bad jokes.  It will become a synonym for the word ‘loser’, to epitomize the loseyest of all losers and ‘Rudy’ will replace Kanye as the epitome of crazy.

Since he apparently intends to go right up to Jan 20th without a civil concession, what exactly are the logistics involved in eviction?  Does the Secret Service just throw his crap out on the lawn?  Does he get dragged out by his heels like Mussolini, or do we get to see Kamala pull him out by his ear like a spoiled toddler at the toy store?

His transition from President to fugitive will be immediate.  His legal jeopardy and financial debt as a private citizen will frame his post-presidential life.  If he stays in the U.S. (that’s a big if) he realistically faces prison.  With Rudy as his head of consul, things will certainly be entertaining.  We may actually see Rudy drag his bag of crazy into a real courtroom, where facts matter, instead of on FOX News, where nonsense matters.

 

Lucy, Queen Bitch of the Left Lane.

Lucy, our 2006 Subaru Forester XLT, will be celebrating an auspicious milestone very soon, 200k on her ticker, much of it in the left lane.

This awesome machine continues to be the favorite amongst our long and storied livery of thoroughbreds, hoopties and beaters.  To this day, I get a special feeling when I stomp my right foot, or crank her stereo, or jump on her brake pedal to avoid calamity.  She still just does everything better.

Every body panel except the hood and roof show the proud battle scars of 14 years working retail.  She has had more shopping carts bang into her than she’s had carwashes.  She has enough dog hair embedded into her carpet to make a poodle.  She has trapped more french fries than Mickey D’s and more roaches than Black Flag.

Though her workload has diminished sharply, she is still Queen Bitch of the left lane.  Her daily duties are now largely recreational, hauling dogs and hauling ass, still in the left lane, only now her right blinker may be on.

Just about any minute now….. wait for it…..

It’s Saturday morning, about two cup o’clock.  We have been counting votes since Tuesday night.  About 75 million Americans voted for Joe and Kamala, the largest tally ever for a Presidential candidate.  EVER.

Though it is increasingly apparent that our 4-year nightmare is almost over, the scariest part just before we wake up, is about to happen.

For the last 4-5 years, I have been predicting Trump’s various impulses and dick moves with a pretty fair level of accuracy.  It’s not that hard.  I try to imagine the mindset of a morally retarded child.  Someone with zero empathy, a total lack of ethics and no true friends.  People in his ear live in fear of contradiction, so they never disagree, correct or object to anything he says or does. With no ability to self-censor and the world’s worst poker face, his worst impulses are as obvious as his spray tan and comb-over, therefor, predictable.

Trump is about to commit his last heinous act before his Presidency ends. It will be fucking ugly. Thousands of brainwashed deplorable anti-mask white assholes are locked and loaded, waiting for their Fuhrer to tweet the go-ahead.

The rat bastard went on TV Thursday night to declare himself the winner… while votes were still being counted.  He declared the election was being ‘stolen’ from him and if you ‘count the legal votes, I’ve already won’.

Right then most major TV networks pulled the plug, cutting away from the President to fact-check in real time and dispute this insane fallacy. Twitter and Facetube also cut their live feeds.  The President made these claims via TV briefing, rather than his typical tweetstorm, because he knew these lies would never get past Twitter or Facebooks’ misinformation controls.

I watched on CNN, who did not cut the feed, and I swear I noticed the exact moment when the other networks cut away.  The president’s face, tone and body language went from manic to depressed before my eyes.  Suddenly, his audience was gone and somehow he knew that the only people still listening were liberals, socialists, chumps, losers, democrats and imigrants from shit-hole countries who watch CNN.  His comments went on for only a few moments after that pont, then he slumped away without responding to any questions.

I understand and agree with the TV networks’ decision to not air Trump’s dangerous claims.  It’s obvious he intended to fire up the wack-jobs.  He had some chanting ‘stop the count’ and some shouting ‘count the votes’ at the same time, indicating clearly how willingly his supporters will abandon logic to appease their King.

I’m glad I got to see it. It needed to be seen, heard and objectively identified as bullshit. His fraudulent claims that mail-in and early votes are somehow mystically appearing after all the ‘legal’ votes have been counted is the exact strategy he telegraphed months ago when he acted to castrate the US Postal Service.  When he told his followers that mail-in voting was unreliable he was setting the stage so he could claim the mail votes to be fraudulent.  He knew that Tuesday’s in-person votes get counted first in many key states and would give him an early lead.  He also knew that reasonable people who are taking the pandemic seriously were far more likely to vote early or by mail and brainwashed, anti-mask deplorable moronic racist white assholes would turn out on Tuesday and their votes would be counted first.

So the fat lady is warming up.  They are likely to call this puppy any moment and declare Joe the 46th POTUS.  There will be joyous celebration and thanksgiving.

Then it will get ugly.  D-bag isn’t really out until January.  He’s going to act like a screaming five-year-old sitting in the floor at the toy store from now until the inauguration.  Rudy, his semi-housebroken trained ape, will throw shit at everything, while his Hitler Youth spawn will feed the conspiracy machine.

They know full well that none of this pathetic whining will mean dick with regard to changing the results of the election.  They don’t care, that’s not their end game.  Trump’s goal at this point is only to create enough division and chaos to cover his escape.  His brainwashed minions will betray their own democracy, as quickly as they abandoned science and morality, in order to protect his engorged ego.

It will take some time, but reality inevitably sinks in.  In a few months when their disgraced king is languishing, either at Gitmo, Rykers or Putin’s lake house, they will come to understand the depths of betrayal to which they’ve been cursed.

In the days ahead I will ask God to help me tolerate my fellow Americans who will be going through the realization that their white-nationalist wet-dream is over.  It sucks to lose. I get that.  I also remember what it’s like when sore winners act like jerks.  Some do it for 4 years. I’ve begun rambling.  Time to check CNN again…

The Fugitive

The 2016 election taught me a stinging lesson about premature optimism.  At this point in the last campaign, Trump was way down in the polls, ass-deep in scandal.  He had just been recorded bragging about grabbing pussies and his desperate attempts to frighten voters about imaginary threats seemed so… well… desperate.

Nobody gave him a Mexican’s chance in Manhattan and all the real news outlets were predicting not just a Clinton win, but a full-on pants-down spanking in the WalMart.

Even Trump doubted his own chances for victory and was making noises about not accepting the outcome if the election turned out to be “rigged”.

Remember the 2nd amendment dog-whistles to his base of  scary white dudes?  Now those assholes have a name- “Proud Boys” and he has openly instructed them to “stand back and stand by”.  Even more unhinged, desperate and scary than the last time. Probably ’cause of the roids.

He should be desperate.  The stakes are much higher this time because if he loses the Presidency, he also loses Presidential protection from criminal indictment and civil litigation.

Pending civil actions alone (mostly from women) will likely have Trump in court for years.  Lots of pissed-off women in an age when it’s tough being a misogynistic bastard.

There’s also some bank fraud, tax fraud, insurance fraud, violations to the emoluments laws, discriminatory real-estate practices, a little light treason, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, perjury before Congress, he probably got Jeff Epstein murdered, basically the Trump brand of business.

I have said all along, Trump faces far more criminal exposure in the business world than in politics and government. He has been lying to banks, investors, insurers and the IRS for a hellova lot longer than he’s been lying to us.

There are Trump co-conspirators languishing in federal prison right now for their convictions in cases where Trump was the mastermind, or at least complicit.

The investigative and prosecutorial processes in these cases exactly followed the typical ways in which crime bosses are taken down- from the bottom up.  Underlings are flipped.  They name some names, cooperate in exchange for a reduced sentence and a book deal,  then the the Feds go after the next guy up the chain, and so on, until they reach the top dude- el bastardo ultimo.

That’s where they hit a wall.  The last bastard in this chain cowers beyond the limit of federal prosecutor’s jurisdiction.  The cases that convicted Cohen and others listed an “unnamed co-conspirator” only because a President cannot be indicted without first being impeached -and we all saw how that went.

Once this firewall of practical immunity is gone, so is Donald.  I don’t mean he will be dragged into the street like Mussolini, I mean the boy will scamper- take it on the lamb- like later dudes-  at one minute the President and at the next minute, a fugitive.

Right now, stashed somewhere in the West Wing, is a go-bag full of gold bullion and hair gel.  Few fugitives in history have been better prepared for escape. He has sheltered bank accounts and real-estate holdings all over the world, including China and Russia.  He’s played kissy-face with a lot of America’s adversaries, including some really nasty dictators, any of whom would happily give him political sanctuary just to give Uncle Sam a big middle finger.

If he doesn’t fly the coop he will face all of this post-presidential jeopardy alone.  The cowardly, complicit Republican assholes, who protected and empowered his heignos actions, will abandon him once he becomes politically irrelevant.  At this point, his last remaining allies are only those that share his total lack of morality, loyalty and honor. Once they smell blood, they will eat him like a pack of jackals.

 

 

 

 

Negligent Homicide

God Bless the President and the First Lady, their family, and all in their orbit.  May God heal their bodies and minds.

And for the rest of us, let us come together for each other.  Otherwise, we are in this alone.  Our Government has failed to lead us into the light, now we must seek that light amongst ourselves.

Wait… WHAT?  He’s out?  What about quarantine protocols? Is he at least wearing a mask?

For a minute there, it seemed as if science and Karma were working together to give Donald a strong dose of reality.  But if you lack the intelligence to  respect science, and lack the morality to understand Karma, all that remains is nonsense.  Nonsense is not a successful strategy unless the goal is chaos.

If he was diagnosed about a week or so ago, he’s within the window during which he is most contagious.  It’s quite likely he has been contagious for 14-18 days. 20 or so staffers and agents have now tested positive.  Chris Christie and several others in attendance at the Rose Garden ceremony are now also sick.  Within the dozen acres of the White House compound there are more infected persons per capita than within the entire country of Australia.

The Pakistani Quickie-Mart in my neighborhood practices better safety protocols than Trump and his Task Force.  Mask-less people in my neighborhood are regarded as immoral idiots and are not allowed in the Quicky-Mart.  Maskless immoral idiots in Washington DC are just regarded as Republicans.

There are third-world countries, where they still shit in the street, that are in better shape than the U.S. because they have known for decades that a simple face covering stops the spread of airborne pathogens.

Trump knew the virus was airborne in January. He also knew then of its severity and fatality ratio.  Downplaying the effectiveness of masks cost American lives for the sake of Donald’s ego. Concealing and contradicting this crucial info during the beginning of this pandemic is negligent homicide. This crime is ongoing as he willfully endangers those around him, giving a more literal meaning to the term ‘toxic administration’.

The only reason the old bastard is still standing is because he’s jacked on ‘roids and was given a cocktail of experimental pharmacology not available to peasants.  I’m certain he is sicker than he lets on, perhaps quite ill indeed.

Steroids alleviate symptoms like inflammation and fever, but don’t really treat the illness or shorten its duration. Large doses are associated with aggressive behavior and altered mental states.  These altered states can be indicated by a detachment from reality and rapid Tweeting.  Steroids are normally only used in severe cases because of severe complications and side-effects, especially in the elderly.

I think he’s too sick for Zoom.  Why else would he refuse to participate in a virtual debate?  He either fears being seen on camera or he fears the mute button.

 

The Epidemic of Ignorance

Prior to Covid-19. America was already in the grips of an epidemic.  This was and is a mental health crisis. It’s an epidemic of ignorance, created by disinformation.

Normal human scepticism and objectivity have been replaced by mob mentality, where populism, not fact, determines reality.  Baseless, bizarre conspiracy theories about everything from satanic pedophile cults to baby carrots really being whittled-down mutant rejects outnumber and obscure real facts.  5G broadband cooks your brain, fluoride turns your kids gay, Obama is from Mars, Pelosi is really a man, Arby’s cooks homeless people, etc…

This is the dynamic that has divided our society. We are not really divided by politics or race, we are divided by the truth we choose.

It begs the question- Why should an individual be able to choose their own reality?

The answer is they shouldn’t.

Facts are facts. You can have a personal truth, or a political truth, but a fact is the truth no matter how much it contradicts a personal belief. Seems simple but a person isn’t going to know what they don’t know. This is known as the illusion of explanatory depth. It’s when a person is certain they are fully informed when, in fact, they are not. To avoid these gaps in understanding we must maintain constant scepticism about things we think we understand and openly entertain opposing theories. This is known as the Socratic method. It’s how we maintain intellectual health and avoid being manipulated by disinformation.  Intellectually healthy people all think this way, whether they realize it or not, but all of us are susceptible to ad-nauseum repetition and emotional manipulation to some degree.  That’s how beer commercials work.

The ways in which Facebook delivers user-narrated content is how Socratic objectivity got flushed down the crapper.  No matter how bizarre and divorced from reality a particular topic may be, there will be terabytes of supporting Facebook content with which users can self-brainwash.  This is the self generated momentum of bullshit rolling downhill.

This is a weapon against Humanity.

Terms we use to define and discern have been twisted.  Rumor, fact, advertising, fake news, all of these elements are masquerading as each other and coming down the same wire.

Our President repeats these lies ad nauseum via Twitter in an effort to narrate the reality of his base.  Dangerous disinformation about Covid-19 has been deleted from Trump’s feed by Twitter because it violated their policies concerning covid disinformation. That’s right, the President is too deceitful for Twitter, according to Twitter’s policies about pandemic disinformation.

And it’s gonna get worse. As Biden and Harris continue to advance their lead, Trump will become more and more desperate. He will switch from throwing gasoline on our crises to throwing dynamite.  Remember, Putin put him there for a specific purpose, to divide our society and wreck Democracy.  He’s only got till November to finish.

Everything from Trump going forward will be about fear and doubt, cause that’s all he’s got.  Well, that and help from an army of Russian trolls.

If you think that hijacking an election, brainwashing an entire society, circumventing the Constitution and the rule of law and turning a Democracy against itself is a little too Machiavellian for Trump to pull off alone, you’re right.  Trump, on his own, is a little more ham-handed and blatant. Castrating the Post Office to manipulate mail-in voting, for example, is more D-bag’s speed.

Our own National Security heads see Trump as compromised, if not complicit and their warnings about Russian influence are disregarded as a witch hunt.  All Trump has to do is to characterize these conclusions as “fake news” and they get blended into the background noise of  nonsense conspiracy theories and cat pics.